Willamette Weekend

8 things to do in Portland, June 29-July 1

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Friday, June 29

Sara Jackson-Holman; Pt. Juncture, WA; What Hearts[MUSIC] Slowly but surely, the world is learning to extend soulful white girls the benefit of the doubt on the authenticity front. That's a good thing for Sara Jackson-Holman, whose quite authentic-sounding 2010 record, When You Dream, successfully mixed sultry vocals with smart, piano-driven hooks. The follow-up, Cardiology, is a more musically diverse affair—it opens with synths and drum machines on the opener "Cartography" before diving into an Adele-style wall of soul on "Can't Take My Love," bouncing between the two poles as the record progresses—but Jackson-Holman's gospel and blues leanings remain intact throughout. The resulting disc produces at least one track begging for a house remix ("Risk it All") and at least one that should hit the Top 40 immediately ("Do I Make it Look Easy"). Doug Fir Lounge, 830 E Burnside St. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.

Portland Underground Film Festival

[FILM] In the early 2000s, former Clinton Street Theater owner Seth Sonstein founded the Portland Underground Film Festival. His mission—as it appeared from the programming, at least—was to screen the craziest shit he could find. Earlier this year, Sonstein sold the theater and turned PUFF over to Portland filmmaker Bob Moricz. While Moricz’s own movies do not shy away from provocation, starting this year, he says, the festival is going to be different, getting away from “the Troma-type gross-outs and the incendiary elements” and showcasing movies which “peel the onion of the human psyche in exciting and original ways.”... read our full write-up here. Clinton Street Theater Friday-Sunday, June 29-July 1.

Saturday, June 30

Oregon Bach Festival: Joshua Bell[MUSIC] They should call it the Oregon Mendelssohn Festival. One of the most popular soloists in today’s classical-music scene returns to Portland, this time with the OBF orchestra, to play one of the most popular of all classical-music works, Felix Mendelssohn’s magnificent Violin Concerto, including his own cadenza (extended solo), as a soloist might have done when Mendelssohn composed it. This concert of Felix’s greatest hits also includes one of the most exuberant symphonies ever composed, his fourth, nicknamed the “Italian” because it was inspired by the German composer’s trip to that country. The festival’s crack chorus joins the orchestra for Mendelssohn’s dramatic 1831 setting of Goethe’s poem, The First Walpurgis Night. BRETT CAMPBELL. Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway. 7:30 pm. $26-$90.

North American Organic Brewers Festival

[BEER] Because when you’re downing 50 beers, health is a really important consideration: the North American Organic Brewers Festival. Environmentally savvy drinkers can sample organic brews from all over Oregon and the country, alongside live music and food vendors. Not to mention lots of really complicated recycling arrangements and absolutely no car parking, you filthy planet-raping drivers. Not to fear: Show your validated TriMet ticket or bring three cans of (preferably organic) food for a dollar off your biodegradable cornstarch tasting mug. Yes, really. Overlook Park, North Fremont Street and Interstate Avenue. Noon-9 pm Friday-Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday, June 29-July 1. Free admission, beer tasting requires $6 glass and $1 drink tokens. naobf.org.

[MUSIC] This is the kind of show that serious music geeks can dine out on for years: catching an iconic musician in an unusual venue. In this case, it's the virtuosic guitarist Sir Richard Bishop performing a set of enraptured blues, jazz and drone in the tiny natural foods store and restaurant Proper Eats. The concert is part of the annual St. Johns NoFest, which takes up a total of 16 neighborhood venues and runs all day. For this showcase, Bishop will be joined by a murderers' row of guitar talent, including fellow blues-informed genius Marisa Anderson (of Evolutionary Jass Band notoriety), the sun-cooked explorations of Eternal Tapestry's Dewey Mahood (playing as Plankton Wat) and folk troubadour Blake Mackey. ROBERT HAM.Proper Eats Market and Cafe, 8638 N Lombard St. 1-10 pm. Free. See nofest.net for complete festival lineup.

Grassroots[FILM] What’s this? A political comedy
that actually believes in the transformative
power of the democratic
process, and isn’t hopelessly
naive? How novel. Grassroots is
the mostly true story of Grant
Cogswell (Portland-born Joel David
Moore), a Seattle music critic with
a curious habit of wandering the
streets dressed like a polar bear, and
his 2001 bid to win a City Council
seat and oust longstanding incumbent
Richard McIver (Cedric the
Entertainer). Campaigning on a propublic-transit
platform, his core
issue is extending the city’s monorail. It might not read particularly
exciting, but the film boasts a smart
script from director Stephen “Father
of Maggie and Jake” Gyllenhaal
and several excellent performances. If you’ve visited our regional rival
in the last decade, you probably
already know how the election
turned out. But winning or
losing isn’t Gyllenhaal’s point: It’s
that entering the political fray and
emerging with your humanity isn’t
such an impossible idea. Fox Tower, 846 SW Park Ave. Multiple showtimes.

Sunday, July 1

Bill Kirchen and His Tele[MUSIC] Bill Kirchen helped Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen achieve takeoff. Of course, the Airmen have long since vanished into thin air, probably unknown by 90 percent of this section's readers, so let me explain: Cody and company brought roots styles like honky-tonk, rockabilly and R&B to a hippie audience back in the daze. Kirchen's reality-warping guitar largely defined the band's sound, never more so on than on the top-10-hit cover of country classic "Hot Rod Lincoln." To this day, Kirchen still cracks open that chestnut in concert, stretching it into a 10-minute epic featuring spot-on imitations of several iconic guitarists' signature styles ("And then Chuck Berry pulled up! [instrumental] And then Link Wray pulled up! [instrumental] And then these four guys from England...," etc.). Tonight, sans backing band, he'll really show ya what he can do with that git-tar. Duff's Garage, 1635 SE 7th Ave. 8 pm. $15. 21+.

The Extraordinary Voyage [FILM] A dream from the 1890s is alive in color. We’re lucky to be living in the 15 minutes of fame for Georges Méliès’ 15 minutes of wonder: The Parisian cinema pioneer gets a Ben Kingsley cameo in Hugo, and we get a color nitrate print of his 1902 phantasm A Trip to the Moon. Oui, color: The Méliès studio movies (other titles include The Inventor Crazybrains and His Wonderful Airship) were handpainted. The dazzling frames, with their Neptunes and dragons and dirigibles floating through, look like ambulatory gemstones, or those airbrushed T-shirts you buy at the beach. The attendant documentary is serviceable (trailblazing genius, lost works, found work, Tom Hanks). The restored short, with an eerie score by Air, is a candy shop of the sublime. NW Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave. 7 pm Sunday, July 1.